As a Man Thinks

Christianity and living the Christian life is a war that goes on in you mind. And it is a matter of our thought life more than it is a matter of the devil and demons and what they do. We have to remember that our flesh is fallen; the will of the flesh is in unity with sin and therefore Satan. That is why it is called the sin nature. It is our nature to sin. You don’t have to train a child to sin, you have to train them not to sin, not to take what isn't theirs until it’s paid for and so much more. Scripture tells us and we know from our own lives, that a man acts and does in accordance with how he thinks. “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he:” Proverbs 23:7.

That is why the battle is in the mind and the devil has worked through the world to influence us to think according to a mindset that is contrary to God and the Bible. We call it a person’s worldview. That is why wicked men hate God and don’t want to admit there is a God, because they don’t want to be accountable for their actions and lifestyle. To justify themselves they work extremely hard to train the younger generation to think their way, amoral, immoral, anti-god and try to convince them there is no God and that they descended from monkeys. Heaven forbid that our children should think that there is a God and that He will hold them accountable for their sins. After all, that might affect their behavior. Of course it would and that is why the younger generation has no conscience or morals. It has been destroyed by indoctrination and brain-washing.

2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” The Bible doesn’t say “take every demon captive” but “take every thought captive. If you are born again by the spirit of God, then you do not belong to Satan. You might have old ways of behaving due to your ways and system of thinking you were trained to have by the world before you got saved. You need to destroy that system of thinking and have your mind renewed by the truth of God’s Word so that you will then act and behave in a different manner, in a way that is godly and acceptable to God. Romans 12:2 (NKJV) 
² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 

We have to know that we cannot change our lives by changing our behavior. Dealing with behavior will not change your life. For “As a man thinks…” You have to change your way of thinking and your thought patterns if you are going to change your behavior.  You change your life by changing what you think. Then when your thinking is lined up with God’s thinking, God’s Word, then that seals Satan out and he has no entrance into your life. He will come and try to get you to think as you used to. He will throw accusations at you to try and penetrate your mind and thinking because that is how he gets power in a person’s life. If he can get you to think evil thoughts, angry thoughts, hateful thoughts, vengeful thoughts, lustful thoughts, any thoughts contrary to God’s Word, that is how he gets you to act sinfully. You don’t go out and do sinful acts if you didn't first think and meditate upon them. You don’t go to see a porno movie without desiring it in your mind. You don’t take a gun and go shoot someone unless there are murderous thoughts in your mind.

You must replace sinful, wrong, and negative thoughts with God's word. Read God's word every day and your thoughts will change. You think about what you saturate your mind with.

If you have on the armor of God, and you have on the breastplate of righteousness and your shield of faith up (which is faith in the Word of God) and your mind filled with the preparation of the Gospel, and you have on the helmet of salvation, then he can’t get you to do his bidding and dirty work. If the devil can’t penetrate your mind because of the helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, then your mind is sharp and ready and the enemy can’t penetrate your mind and get you to follow his system and way of doing things. The key to the armor of God and putting it on and having it in force in your life is the Word of God, daily renewing your mind to truth, filling your mind with truth and building your faith up with the truth. That is what arms and defends the attacks of the enemy against your mind and gives you power to attack him on his own turf. Of course that means that you are obeying that truth that you know, walking in obedience to the Word in your daily life for that is how the Word has power in your life.

The devil will try you to see if you really believe God's word just like he did Eve in the garden. He got Eve to doubt God's word. 

Why is it that some who have “come to Christ” are still doing wrong things and have bad habits? It’s because if they are saved, that doesn't renew their mindset and way of thinking and pattern of thinking. That can only be done by the washing of the water of the word. Ephesians 5:26 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,” and by the sanctification of the Spirit as He speaks to them and corrects them, Isaiah 30:21 “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” Saved people still have an attitude and spirit that was built by a old system of thinking. We have to allow the Lord and His Word and His Spirit to then cleanse us by changing our thinking and renewing our minds and correcting us in our daily walk. We have to ask the Lord to teach us “His ways” and show us “His paths” for us to walk in.

It’s like this. You can come and ask for healing and deliverance from cancer. But even if you are healed of that cancer and it was caused by smoking and you refuse to give up the smoking, you can’t blame God if the cancer comes back because you are giving it a place in your life and access to come back by your continued sin against your body. In like manner, you can cast a devil out of your life, and bind the devils operating in our life, but unless you change your system of thinking, then Satan will soon have the same access back into your life that he had to begin with. When you were a sinner, Satan owned you and he infiltrated your mind and thinking through worldly means and he filled your mind with things that were meant to produce destruction in your life. Once you are born again, his authority and place in your life is removed, but your old system of thinking is still inside your mind and that has to be broken down and replaced until you renew your mind and have a new way of thinking so that you no longer give access to the devil in your life. James 4:7-10 (NKJV) 
⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
⁹ Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

 You have to be disciplined by the Word and the Spirit to stop the old way of thinking and doing the things you did before.                                                                                                           INVITATION: What do you think about Jesus, God's Son? The bible says that only through Him can you be saved and have a relationship with God. He alone can give you the power to think the right thoughts and live the right kind of life.  He will also give you an eternal home in Heaven. Ask Jesus to save you and then invite Him into your life to take charge of you. Then and only will you begin to think right thoughts and live the victorious life style.